A huge new office park will "put Scotland on the map", according to its proud boss.

Karen Campbell, chief executive of Maxim, the new office park being built on the site of the former Chunghwa Picture Tubes factory at Eurocentral, claims the development will be a shop window for Scotland to the rest of the world.

"This is the biggest speculative office park in the whole of the UK at the moment," she said.

"It will create 7,000 jobs and is very much appealing to a worldwide audience in terms of the size of it. There's nothing like this in the UK, let alone Scotland.

"We are building on site and we've got steel work up for four buildings. We are very much ahead of programme."

The first two parts of the development, including a 'hub' with shops and other amenities, are due to be complete by December 2008. The final building, a 'headquarters' office of more than 180,000 sq ft, will be complete by March 2010.

"One of the buildings is a total of 186,000 sq ft - that is the type of building you'd expect to see as a one-off in Glasgow city centre," added Campbell.

"We decided to put it on a business park in an attempt to attract the big international occupiers to work here."

The developers of the site, Tritax, are planning to develop the surrounding areas with "vast expanses" of landscaped areas and water features.

The speed at which the development will be completed is unusual and there are concerns that demand will be sparse for one million sq ft of new office space coming so quickly onto the market.

But Campbell says she is in discussions with a number of potential occupiers who are interested in the scheme.

Campbell adds that rents starting at £17 per sq ft and generous rent-free packages will attract occupiers But she also says they are prepared to wait for tenants.

The park is still designated an Enterprise Zone, which gives beneficial tax breaks to developers until 2013.

This and an added £200m of debt funding provided by Bank of Scotland means that if the park remains empty for a while it is not the end of the world, she says.

"In order to create a destination you have to create a critical mass," said Campbell.

"Obviously, we are innovative in terms of the way we funded this. If everyone doesn't move in on day one it isn't the end of the world, because large international companies take time in their decision process.

"The key thing is we get the right quality of occupiers on the park to ensure we create the right level of employment for Lanarkshire and Scotland as a whole."

Tritax, a company that specialises in developing former enterprise zone property, purchased the former Chunghwa site in 2003.

Director Ian Ross said the organisation always felt there was potential to transform the site into a mixed use business park.

"The fact that work has already started on all the infrastructure, landscaping and ancillary facilities - when this might usually take a decade or more - means Maxim will deliver on all accounts," he said.